Hyderabad: The 20 people killed in the police encounter in Seshachalam forest were just woodcutters working for red sanders smugglers. While the cops are killing and arresting woodcutters, almost no arrests were made of any kingpin of the smuggling racket.
Smuggling of red sanders includes four steps — cutting trees, shifting the logs to a designated location, transporting them via road to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and exporting them through air or sea.
Most of the labourers involved in chopping and shifting operations belong to two economically backward castes of Tamil Nadu — Vanniyars and Malayalis.
As per a fact-finding report by National Campaign for DNT Human Rights (NCDNTHR), most of them are hired from Thiruvannamalai, Salem, Villupuram and Dharm-apuri districts in Tamil Nadu.
The traditional occupation of many people from these two castes is woodcutting and many from these districts had worked earlier for sandalwood dons like Veerappan.
Keeping their poor economic status, proficiency in woodcutting and travelling through forests in mind, the red sanders mafia from AP hire them.
A senior AP forest department official said, “It is impossible for Tamil labourers to reach the places where red sanders exist in deep jungles. Local villagers guide them to the spots. Involvement of state officials also can’t be ruled out.”
M. Subba Rao of the NCDNTHR, says, “It is ridiculous that woodcutters are being killed. They are not the ones who have the resources to export the wood or buy products made of it. If the government is serious about conserving red sanders they should first take action against their own ministers and MLAs involved in smuggling of red sanders. Politicians of all prominent political parties like the TD, Congress and YSRC are involved. Why are the police not nabbing the real culprits?”
A human rights activist from Kadapa says, “It is ironic that while woodcutters are being killed or arrested, the red sanders seized from these so called smugglers are being auctioned by Andhra Pradesh government for raising revenue after getting national and even international clearances. This shows double standards of the government.”
